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Katherine Mansfield is often recognized as one of the true innovators of the modern short story. The New Zealand-born Englishwoman embraced a Bohemian lifestyle and became involved in a series of scandalous relationships, which greatly influenced some of her most significant work. Her best-known writings were produced in her final years, as she was plagued by illness. Her fiction is dominated by themes of male-female relationships, sexual ambivalence, and gender roles. Most of her work focuses on female protagonists and demonstrates the problems of social relationships. This collection, written between 1920-1922, includes “At the Bay”, a story that proposes there is more to a woman's life than marriage and motherhood; “The Garden Party”, which explores class differences; “The Daughters of the Late Colonel”, a story about life and death; “Marriage à la Mode”, about the dissolution of a relationship; “Miss Brill”, Mansfield's memorable tale of the lonely woman, and many more. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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In this representative volume, “The Mysterious Stranger and Other Stories” the reader will find twenty-four of Mark Twain’s best shorter works. Classic and unforgettable tales that span the author’s career are included, such as “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, which is Twain’s most famous short story and was his first great success as an author. It is the unforgettable tale of Jim Smiley, the gambler who will bet on anything including a frog-jumping competition. Also included is the fascinating and unfinished final novel by Twain, “The Mysterious Stranger”, which he worked on over a period of several years from 1897 to 1908 and was finally published after his death. The story takes place several hundred years ago and features a mysterious character who is revealed to be Satan himself. Far darker, more serious, and mature than Twain’s earlier works, this final story grapples with challenging and important concerns about the moral failings of men and the fate of the human race. This collection is an important addition to the library of anyone who enjoys one of America’s most renowned authors. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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Generally thought to be the work that led to the abolishment of serfdom in Russia, “Sketches from a Hunter’s Album” is a series of short stories, written in 1852, that gained Turgenev widespread recognition for his unique writing style. These stories were the result of Turgenev’s observations while hunting all over Russia, particularly on his abusive mother’s estate at Spasskoye. A definitive work of the Russian Realist tradition, this collection of sketches unveils the author’s insights on the lives of everyday Russians, from landowners and their peasants, to bailiffs and mournful doctors, to unhappy wives and mothers. Turgenev captures their tragedies and triumphs, losses and loves in a set of stories that condemned the behavior of the ruling class. Considered subversive writing, Turgenev was confined to his mother’s estate, yet his “Sketches” opened the eyes of many people of his time, proving him not only an artist but also a social reformer whose abilities ultimately affected the lives of countless Russians. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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American journalist and satirist Ambrose Bierce is one of the most famous and fascinating figures in all of American literature. He led an adventurous and eventful life, beginning with his birth in a log cabin, to his time as a Civil War soldier, followed by his career as an author and journalist, to finally his mysterious disappearance during the Mexican Revolution at age 71. Bierce is perhaps best known for his short stories about the American Civil War, which influenced authors such as Ernest Hemingway and Stephen Crane. He was also an accomplished horror story writer, whose work inspired the tales of H. P. Lovecraft. Bierce’s gift for story-telling is exemplified by his famous “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, which is the story of Peyton Farquhar, a Confederate sympathizer condemned to die by hanging upon the Owl Creek Bridge. It is one of the most anthologized of American short stories and showcases his cutting wit and talent for irony and surprise. This story, along with numerous others, is collected in this representative edition of “The Collected Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce”. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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“The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories” collects six of Tolstoy’s finest short stories into one edition. In “How Much Land Does a Man Need?”, Tolstoy explores this very question through the story of a peasant with an increasing appetite for land—an appetite which becomes his ruin. “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, one of Tolstoy’s short masterpieces, tells of the early death of a high-court judge in 19th century Russian. “Family Happiness” explores the female identity within changing romantic relationships. Narrated in first person by the protagonist Masha, the tale is a skilled and engrossing story of a woman’s difficult position in a shifting society. “The Kreutzer Sonata” is an intense tale of love, marriage, sex, and jealousy. Initially banned by the Russian censors, the novella has inspired many films, theater productions, and paintings. In “The Devil”, Evgeni Irtenev struggles with a new inheritance riddled with debts when sudden romance and lust threaten to turn his world upside down. Lastly, “Father Sergius” tells of a young aristocrat who, upon discovery of his fiancé’s infidelity, retreats into the life of a monastic Orthodox Christian, though this radically new life proves to be difficult. This representative collection of short stories exhibits why Leo Tolstoy is considered one of the world’s most renowned authors. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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By the time Alexander Pushkin was twenty years old, he was already being recognized in the Russian literary scene as a great talent. He was born in Moscow and educated at home and at the Lyceum, studying Latin and eighteenth century French literature. Often seen as the founder of modern Russian literature and the first important Russian Poet, Pushkin’s early works spoke largely to social reform which resulted in his exile to southern Russia until 1826; however, he continued to write unabated for his entire life. His poems and plays incorporated elements of drama, romance and satire that would from then on be associated with Russian literature, and his short stories are deemed by some to be the perfect Romantic tales. This collection of short stories begins with his finest prose story, “The Queen of Spades”, and also includes “The Captain's Daughter”, “The Lady Rustic”, “The Pistol-Shot”, “The Snow-Storm”, “The Undertaker”, “The Station-Master”, and “The Moor of Peter the Great”.

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“Walk in the Light and Twenty-Three Tales” is a collection of religious tales and parables by the famed Russian author Leo Tolstoy, regarded by many as one of the world’s greatest authors. In addition to his most well-known novels “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina,” which are regarded as the epitomes of realist fiction, Tolstoy was also a prolific writer of short stories and non-fiction. In the middle of his life, the author underwent a profound religious and spiritual awakening and become a deeply devout Christian. Contained in this collection is the inspirational “Walk in the Light While Ye Have Light”, written in 1893. It is the story of Pamphylius, set in the ancient Roman Empire, and his conversion from paganism to Christianity, which is presented as a series of arguments in favor of Tolstoy’s faith. Also included are such classics as “God Sees the Truth, but Waits”, “The Bear-Hunt”, “What Men Live By”, “Little Girls Wiser Than Men”, and “How Much Land Does a Man Need?”, and many more. This representative collection of short stories exhibits why Leo Tolstoy is considered one of the world’s most renowned authors. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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“My Man Jeeves” is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, several of which concern two of his most beloved characters, the idle rich young English aristocrat, Bertie Wooster, and his clever and unflappable valet, Jeeves. Bertie and Jeeves, although they are minor characters, appear for the first time in “Extricating Young Gussie”, which while not included in the original collection of “My Man Jeeves” is included in this collection. First appearing serially in several magazines before being published in a book in 1919, “My Man Jeeves” also contains several stories about Reggie Pepper, who was an early prototype of Wodehouse’s more famous character, Bertie Wooster. Reggie appears in tales such as “Absent Treatment”, where the wealthy and bored Reggie helps his hapless friend remember his wife’s birthday so that she will allow him to come back home. Wodehouse rewrote many of these early stories to include Bertie and Jeeves and republished them in “Carry on, Jeeves” in 1925. This collection of nine stories exhibit the origins of Wodehouse’s most famous literary creations, which would eventually solidify his reputation as one of England’s greatest humorists. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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“Best Short Stories of Algernon Blackwood” is a collection of frightening tales by one of the greatest British writers of supernatural fiction of the twentieth century. Born in London in 1869, Blackwood began publishing ghost stories in 1906 and became a prolific writer, as well as a journalist and radio broadcaster. Included in this collection are such classic tales as “Ancient Sorceries”, which follows a tourist who becomes enchanted by a strange French town and the ancient secrets that are hidden there, and the “The Willows”, which was considered by H. P. Lovecraft to be one of the finest supernatural stories ever written. Blackwood interwove both the traditional elements of horror literature, such as haunted houses and ghosts, with ideas far ahead of his time, like cosmic experiences, advanced beings, and multiple dimensions of existence. Blackwood is famous for his unsurpassed ability to create foreboding moods, slowly building suspense, and keeping readers on the edges of their seats. All together this collection includes eighteen of Blackwood’s most haunting tales.

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Published in 1917, “His Last Bow: Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes” is a collection of eight previously published detective stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, starring his most famous and enduring literary creation, Sherlock Holmes. The collection contains many noteworthy titles, including the titular “His Last Bow: The War Service of Sherlock Holmes”, which was first published earlier in 1917 in “Strand Magazine”. “His Last Bow” is a departure from the usual Holmes story in that it is told in third person, rather than the typical first-person narrative told from the perspective of Dr. Watson. It is also a spy story rather than a detective tale and follows Holmes and Watson as they find and apprehend German spies and protect British secrets during World War I. Also included is the controversial “The Adventure of the Cardboard Box”, which was first published in “Strand Magazine” in 1893 and appeared in some British editions of the “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes”. It is the tale of murder, disfigurement, infidelity, and betrayal between sisters that many readers of Victorian England found to be shocking and brutal. This collection is an essential addition for any fan of literature’s most famous detective. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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